Tucked away treats

                                                                                  

I've discovered some wonderful little shops in Rome. The first as you can see is a specialist glove shop. It's run by an elderly lady just down from Piazza Venezia. The gloves are all hand made and the selection of styles and colours is amazing. A little note in the window says that gloves can be sent all over the world, and you don't have to pay until you receive them. Now that's what I call service. The second shop I spotted was one that sells upholstery trimmings, some definitely from the 60's and 70's - the sort that you can never really find in modern shops - fabulous for bags and belts. I might be tempted!

Holy Undies

Rome of course is the centre of the Catholic Church - but I didn't realise it houses the equivalent of M&S undies for clerics. Do priests really need special pants?And  if you need a holy hat, well Rome is obviously the place to go shopping. Take a peek at this place! Credit-cards at the ready guys!

TURBANS ACROSS FRONTIERS

I am living in an unusual flat in a rather upmarket bit of Rome. Leila is the rather glamorous lady who's flat I am staying in - she is maybe in her early 70's, and has a three legged cat. She also had an elderly cat(18) who sadly had reached the end, and I arrived in Rome just in time to stroke its little head before it was despatched from this world. It's not exactly what I was expecting my first memory of Rome to be...but life as we know...is strange. To try and cheer Leila up (as I was lacking in Italian vocabulary I was showing her some photos of various things on my laptop to take her mind off things) I started talking about my hats, and her eyes lit up! "You made all these?" she asked. I was proud to say that yes I had made them and we started to talk about millinery in an Italian/English medley that was half understanding and half guess-work. Leila told me she had been searching for a turban as she liked something a litle glamorous yet practical for her "bad hair days"(I'm not sure how you say that in Italian - anyone know?) but try as she might, she just couldn't find these hats any where in Italy any more. As luck would have it I had a picture of my T-shirt turban on my lap-top and her eyes lit-up! "Bella bella," she said,"comme se fai?" I told her in my halting Italian how I had made it and suggested that she too could have a go, and she enthusiastically hunted out an old beach dress made of jersey fabric. Meche, who is her Peruvian home-help, was then instructed in the art of turban making...and this was the result: I'm telling you - hats have a way of breaking down barriers!

ROME - THE ETERNAL CITY

Rome is such an overwhelming place that it's daunting to even begin to write about it...you are walking upon layers of such rich history that you can't take it in. So I am veering off the usual path and am simply going to describe some of the things that have caught my eye. But first of all I need to tell you about hats across boundaries - TURBANS - TO BE PRECISE

Wherever I lay my hat - that's in Rome

So sorry not to have updated for some time - but I decided to get off the merry-go-round in the UK for a while and have headed to Rome to study Italian for a month. It all happened one evening after a couple of glasses of red wine and a bit of fantasy google-searching for dream homes, dream escapes, dream jobs - you know, the usual unobtainable! After putting in random words like, hats, Italy, language, gardens, art, jobs - up popped a language school in Rome that was offering free lessons in Italiano, to someone who was prepared to work in the garden for a couple of hours a day. Well it seemed like such a co-incidence to actually find SOMETHING that I sent off an e-mail . The weeks went my and I forgot about it, until I received a phone-call asking me if I was able to start on Oct 10th and stay for a month. I thought about it briefly and said..."well ok then...why not." And now...I am here! This is the view from my bedroom window...Camera Con Vista!......(it's evening by the way!)

And here's one of the hats from my new collection!

Autumn/Winter 2008/09

The Most Amazing Hair!

If you want a fantastic fix of feel-good vintage, and can't afford to spend alot - please follow my advice and head to "Nina's Vintage and Retro Hair" in North London. It's just fantastic. I went in with a vague request for "victory rolls" and came away feeling like a 1940's starlet! Honestly, I have never had so many flattering comments as I had after visiting Nina's. Nina wasn't there but her assistant was charming and stylish - and 'got' what I wanted straight away. It was the most relaxing, fun and satisfying hairdressing experience I've ever had! The hair salon is based in the warren-like Alfie's Antique Market, and after my appointment at Nina's, I really enjoyed exploring all the antique and vintage stalls jammed full of desirable goodies. Much inspiration! I even treated myself to lunch in the roof-top coffee shop. In the evening I went to see the stage version of "Brief Encounter" at the Haymarket Theatre, which you absolutely MUST go and experience - and my new hair-do won me some much needed morale-boosting compliments.

By the way - I slept with my hair intact - and it was good to go for a second day. That's what I call value for money!

THANKYOU NINA !!!!